56 feet and counting: Lake Tahoe records 2 of its snowiest months on record with more still to come

article

(Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - It’s been quite the winter for snow lovers in the West, but too much of the white stuff has turned into a nightmare for people living near Lake Tahoe on the California-Nevada border, as the region has now reported two of its snowiest months on record with more still to come.

So far this season, Lake Tahoe has reported 677 inches – or 56.4 feet of snow. And so much snow has fallen that January 2023 has gone down in the record books as its eighth-snowiest month, while March now ranks as Lake Tahoe’s seventh-snowiest month of all time.

That means two of the 10 snowiest months on record in Lake Tahoe have been reported during this season alone.

And with this latest atmospheric river storm slamming the Golden State, those totals will continue mounting as some parts of the Sierra Nevada and other mountain ranges could pick up several more feet of snow through Wednesday.

But wait, there’s more.

In addition to some of the snowiest months on record, Lake Tahoe's 2022-23 overall winter season is now the second-snowiest on record.

It’s still far behind the top spot when during the 1982-83 season, 812 inches of snow, or 67.7 feet, fell.

Relentless storms hit Sierra since December

Severe winter weather has been battering California since a series of storms began slamming into the region in December.

Since then, feet upon feet have effectively buried communities in the higher elevations of the Sierra Nevada, even requiring the National Guard to help buried residents dig themselves out.

San Bernardino Mountains see even more snow

On the second day of spring, it's looking like anything but in Running Springs in the San Bernardino Mountains. Residents said they've had enough.

Many residents were trapped for more than a week during previous storms this winter season, and some were forced to hike for miles to find stories that remained open but were stocked with limited supplies.

Deaths have also been reported because of the snow, including an 80-year-old woman who died when a porch collapsed due to the weight of the snow.

Even Yosemite National Park was overwhelmed by snowfall and was closed for weeks while crews worked to clear as much snow as possible from roads and structures to ensure the safety of visitors once it was safe to reopen the park.